On November 11, 2021, at the morning meeting for all Del Sol Rotarians, Bobby Ehrig of the Veterans Integration Center was the Guest Speaker in honor of Veterans Day.  Bobby is the Executive Director of the Center and had a 17 year career in the Army.  He was seriously injured on his second tour of duty in Iraq and spent a long time in rehabilitation.  He came to Albuquerque in 2018 to direct the work of the Center.

 

The Center, often called the "VIC", works with homeless veterans to help 700 Veterans a year obtain temporary housing.  The VIC has a 75% success rate working with vets for a year and having them be in a stable housing situation after that year.  The VIC provides food, furniture and temporary housing.  Bobby said it costs $37000-$50000 to get a Veteran back to normalcy. 

 

The VIC budget is $2.6million a year with $1.3million coming from Federal Government sources. 

 

There are now 3400 Homeless Vets in New Mexico.

 

Bobby told us that our member, John Garcia, was the founder of the VIC and has received the Iron Mike Award for service to Veterans.  

 

On Tuesday, November 16 at Jimmy's Cafe at 7:00AM the RDS Board will have its Regular November Meeting. All Rotarians are invited to attend in person or via ZOOM.

 

Later that day at 5:30 pm at Nexus Brewery and via ZOOM the Satellite Group will have its meeting.  Sara Beltran, a RDS member, will be the speaker on her various service activities with Women2Be and Rio Grande Community Development Corporation.

 

On Thursday, November 18 at 7:00AM at Jimmy's Cafe and ZOOM there will be a Morning Meeting for all Del Sol Rotarians.  The meeting will feature presentations by the four charities vying to be our charity for the April 23, 2021 Rotary Charity Ball.  THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT MEETING SO EVERYONE SHOULD TRY TO ATTEND EITHER IN PERSON OR VIA ZOOM.  At the conclusion of the meeting ballots will be cast to determine the selection of the charity.  If you are unable to attend or are attending via ZOOM, you can vote absentee by sending an email with  your selection to rotarydelsol.vote@gmail.com.  Deadline is 8:00AM on November 18 so the Committee can tally the votes.

 

The four charities in order of their presentations are:

 

New Mexico Child First Network

RYLA Foundation

Lexiam Heart Foundation

Casa Angelica

 

The RDS Christmas Party is scheduled for Sunday, December 12 at Jimmy's Cafe at 5:00PM.

 

Lance Ellis, who has done great work on the Ramps project, is not able to continue in that role.  So, if you have some construction knowledge and are looking for a service project, please contact Greg Hallstrom to volunteer for this  important assignment.